The Lion War
by Shadow ScytheX
Summary: Well, it's a bunch of different ideas from games and things slapped into a story. Now with small bits of humor!
1. The Puppets

The Lion War  
By Shadow the Hanyou  
NOTES: Well, I was bored and decided to do something. Now, let's dedicate some sh- er, stuff.  
Royal Swordsman: For helping to inpire me write this.  
Arie: For being a friend.  
Azu: For inspiring me to post my stories in the first place.  
Philomel: For listening to my rantings of Final Fantasy Tactics, Tactics Ogre, and other games.  
Ca: For actually caring enough to write back. (Assumption)  
Triad Orion and Midnight C: For giving Royal a reason to complain. That started off some 'intresting' convos.  
Squaresoft: For creating an awesome game series.   
Camelot: For creating an awesome game series. but they still suck at translations. So does Square.  
Konami: For creating two awesome game series. (No, Metal Gear doesn't appear here, but it's still awesome.)   
Coca-Cola: For giving me the caffinated stregnth to finish this and other stories.  
  
Just from dedications, this will be a long story. But this will be the introduction. JimJim, cut the lights!  
JimJim the monkey: *Cuts the lights*  
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"We only hurt those we love. Considering this, genocide is the equivilant of proposing."  
-Myself  
"What did you earn, Ramza? And I..."  
-Delita Hyral  
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Weyward is in troubled times. Alchemy is unheard of. Now people rely on the powers of their own hearts to create magic. What happened to alchemy, you ask? It was destroyed by a man named Isaac Sol and his companions. They lit the lighthouse, and the owrld as we knew it was destroyed. St. Asura then came to this land and blessed it, restoring the natural order of the world. There was a period of enlightenment in the world, but with the beacons destroyed, it all ended. This is what the church tells the people. They are all sheep and believe them. Only a select few know the truth. They are long gone, into hiding. As I publish this tale, the world will know thr truth, and as the church collapses, they will label me a heretic. They will excute me, but this divine 'truth' they've shielded the world with...It will be gone. Weyward is much bigger. in fact, there is no longer an end of the world. It has truly become spherical. It is united...or so the church makes them believe.  
As you read the account, note that if you look closely, you may notice something different about some of the people. I am referring to the one's named Royal Swordsman, and Shadow Ruglias. You will discover their secrets, along with others. This is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. If you do not want to know the truth and believe in your religion of lies, so be it. Close this book, and return it to Orbonne, or burn it.   
If you want to know what REALLY happened to this small army, then I suggest you proceed carefully, do not immediately leave the church, but read, so you know why. Blind faith has never rewarded anyone, so hide this book. When you are done, pass it on to another, so their lives are enriched as well. Heed thy call, still thy toungue, and bathe in the truth, which will never again be hidden.  
~Allison 'MysticDragon' Gaia.  
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Royal Swordsman stood in the rain, letting the rain slide down his sharp features. He took out his flask, and tipped it back, letting some of his Yggidrasil Coffee slide down his throat. He put a small amount of whisky in it for flavor. He still hated his home land. He then kicked a rock against a wall in frustration.  
"I'm not going back there ever again. I don't want to go back. I don't want to think of it. I don't want to remember."  
He tipped back his flash again, and quietly walked to the castle in somber reflection. It was a living. He hated living from job to job, but he had to. He then pulled his hood tightly over his head. He then got sick of the rain and got out his ocarina and played a tune, then walked. 5 minutes later, the clouds receded. Royal smirked at his own work, then walked to the castle. He would have two companions: A Mr. Worth, a Mr. Daniels, and a Mr. Herras. He had heard quite a bit about Drake Herras, the infamous Dark Knight mercenary, but nothing of the other two. He didn't even get the first name of Worth. His other partner, Bo Daniels, had on and off jobs at various places. He was a well trained person, though. He had mastered the arts of Priest, Calculator, Samurai, Ninja, Chemist, Squire, Archer, Thief, and Mediator. But he was selling himself short as an ordinary Squire. Puzzled, he walked through the castle gates, up the staircase, and entered on the princess praying.  
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The princess had her head bowed down. "May our lives be protected by the divne graces of Dullahan. Amen."  
A woman, clad in armor, stepped next to a priest and said, "Lavitz, please tell Ashley it's time to go."  
Ashley, overhearing, quickly spoke. "I'm done. And Azu, you may speak directly to me. Lavitz, where are my escorts?"   
Lavitz then pointed, annoyed at being treated like this. "They're over there. You have 4. The 4th, a mister Royal, is late."  
RS then shouted to get his attention. "I'm right here, ass. I don't appreciate being ignored just because your princess is a brat." He then flipped off Lavitz for emphasis.  
Lavitz sat there open mouthed. He then looked at the brash man, who was now resting against a wall. "How did you-"  
Royal was now in his face. "Move that fast? It comes with training, my dear old man." Lavitz blinked, and Royal was now back leaning against the wall, his black-gloved hands crossed against his chest. His eyes shifted to the guy next to Bo. 'That must be Mr.Worth,' he thought. Before he could talk to him, Drake came up.  
"I like your attitude, son. I'm Herras. I suppose I don't need an introduction, though."  
"Hmph. I feel that those with bigger egos than skills need not talk to me," Royal replied, taking out his two-handed blade.  
A knight walked in, covered in blood. She then collapsed. She had an arrow sticking out of her back with a Junae flag attached to it.  
Bo examined her and took a pulse. "Dead."  
Worth then walked up to the body, and took off his cloak. "Gee, what tipped you off? The blood or the arrow?"  
Royal's eyes went wide. "Shadow?"  
Shadow then turned around and his eyes lit up. "Royal? Ah! How long has it been? 2 years? How have you been since your escape?"  
"I don't want to talk about it."  
Azu then walked over to the two reunited friends. "We can have a reunion later. We have a job to do.We have to kill those knights before they steal the princess. Let's move!"  
Herras walked out, pouting like a pechelant child. "There's no money in that!"  
Bo then gave her a curious look. "So we're going to leave the princes alone with a priest. Who has no expierience whatsoever in defense. With the princess. Whom is heir to the throne. And somebody could capture her."  
Azu then glared at him. "Actually, we hate the princess. We're looking for an excuse to kill her."  
Shadow then grinned. "Sweet."  
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The only knight on the other side of the field looked like he had been beaten with an ugly stick, thrown down an ugly tree, hit all the branches on the way down, then had tripped over an ugly rock, and then fell into a spring of ugly. Yes, he was that ugly. Or so the records say...  
Drake looked disgusted. Royal made a face. Bo got shot by a preemptive arrow by an archer. Shadow shielded his eyes. Azu was about to gouge her eyes out with a rusty dull spoon.  
The knight told the archers to keep firing, then grinned at the opposing team of 4. "You will all perish. 'Tis the wish of Vaughn. Now, if you stand still this barrage of arrows won't hurt nearly as mu-" He was cut off by Royal's throwing axe digging into his chest. The archers stopped firing because either Shadow had incinerated that patch of ground, archer and all, or Azu had used a lightning stab and fried him. The chemist tried to run. Herras threw his blade at him. The chemist, now missing an arm and a leg, fell over and bled to death.   
"Great. Now I have to clean that blade again..." said Herras grumpily. Royal looked over at the tower. He shouted, "The princess is being captured! Too bad it's not in my contact to save her." He then left, as there was no more princess to protect.  
Azu then shouted at him. "Hey! Come back here, you asshole! Hey! We have to make it look like we TRIED to get her back! Hey!" She then turned to Shadow, an annoyed look crossed her features. "What's up with your friend?"  
Herras then tried pointing out the Dragoon going off with the princess, but then remembered that nobody reallt gave a damn.  
The Dragoon grinned. 'My, this was easy. Now I can kill her and collect the cash.' She then kicked her Behemoth in the side, and it rode off, with the princess on it's back. She then shouted to Azu. "Don't blame me. Blame yourself, or god. Or maybe that priest. Yeah. Definitely the priest."  
She then rode off. Azu then looked at Shadow. "Tell me everything. How you came to know Royal, and why he's the way he is!"  
"It started 2 years ago. Get a snack and alchoholic beverage. It's a long story."  
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And that's where we end the record of The Lion War today. Support your troops by reviewing! Otherwise, I might not be MOTIVATED to write.  
  



	2. The Strings

The Lion War  
By Shadow the Hanyou  
NOTES: Okay. I'm gonna' skip the whole lengthy flashback, because nobody wants 5 chapters extolling what happened. We'll just sum it up in about a chapter and a half.  
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Shadow started to speak. "2 years ago, Royal abandoned his friends, his family, and his home. He then met me under, to say the least, extenuating circumstances..." The screen then started to fade out, and everyone but Lavitz freaked out, because the church had already given him his 401K and the rest of the day off for good work. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
Royal was on the run from more guards. He threw an Axe at one, then ducked through the sewers. He cut a corner, then came back up. He ducked, rolled, and ran down an alley. He then used his inner powers to ignore the immense height of the buildings surrounding him, and he jumped on top of one. He dashed across three more buildings in this fashion, and looked like he would make it out of town...  
Well, until he took that HUMONGOUS slip on that randomly plased banana peel. As he was falling through the glass celing, he pondered the fact that bananas went out of season a few months ago. Not to mention...  
He hit the floor, face first. As he was recovering from his death leap, a kid came up to him, a look of conern on his face.  
"You alright? It looks like you tripped the burglary system."  
"You mean the banana peel?"  
"Of course! This is a military base/shelter. We're just poor people, plus we rely on government funding. You expected something better? It seemed to work on you," the boy said, offering him a hand.  
"Thank you. My name is Royal Swordsman. What is yours?"  
"Shadow Ruglias. And before you ask, this is a hobo training camp, not a shelter for the military."  
"Thank you for clearing that up," he said, picking a piece of glass out of his hair. 'No damage... That's good. The shoddy healthcare would've been the death of me.' He then followed Shadow to the training camp.  
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Azu stared at him with a bit of bemusement. "That's it? That is it?"  
"There's a reason why he ran away, you know. A very GOOD reason."  
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2 days later, as you might expect, Shadow was called to take care of, you guessed it, a gang of bandits. Royal refused to let Shadow's team of weakling peasents be defeated that easily. He offered his expert help in dealing with them, out of the 'kindness' of his own heart. He was actually, hoping to hitch a ride with the leader.   
Either way, when the troops both came on to the field, Royal's bow had already taken down 3 bandits and injured another. But they were still outnumbered 4:1. Shadow had another trick up his sleeve.  
"Fires from the depths of hell, incinerate the faint of heart with your blazing might! CORONA STORM!!!!"  
The fires burnt through many of the bandits. Unfortunately, it was still 2:1. With nothing left to do, a mercenary ran up and threw a rock at a thief's head, taking him out.  
The other thieves then scurried away with shouts of "He threw a rock! This guy means buisness!!!!!"  
Shadow and Royal sweatdropped at the recruit. The recruit held the rock up, chanted something, and then gently tossed it to a comrade. Her eyes grew wide, and she ran off in fear. "I call it a fear stone. Think of it as a combonation of the skills Threaten, Foxbird, and Chicken. They all fear me. Just one touch, and anyone will run. Especially those pansy elves. What pathetic losers. Even the dark ones are such wim-"   
Shadow had the recruit by the throat. "Don't speak unkindly of others when your only skill is fear. When one of you loses faith in your abilities, then that rock is worthless." He then threw the cocky teen to the ground. "Recruit 7, what is your name?"  
"It's Riglet. Hanta Riglet. And if you EVER touch me again, I will personally see to it you're BOTH decomissioned. Mr. Royal, you should have more control over your peers," he said.  
"Personally, your neck would have a pleasent draft right now if I was the one who had gotten to you."  
Hanta gulped, then quickly ran back to his quarters.  
"I wasn't standing up for JUST you, you know," Shadow said, quietly. "You may be a pure elf," he started, which drew a suprised look from Royal, "But I'm a mixture of three evil races. I'm a third drow elf, a third lich, and a third yokai. Nobody can know. They won't decomission me from this army; they're short on troops as it is. They don't need to lose a commander, as well. But I recieve prejudice from all who know about it. I don't expect you to accept me. All of my bloodlines hate elves. Other elves, anyways." He then gave Royal a fleeting smile. Royal smiled back.  
"I don't care who you are. I'm an outcast too. Notice: the ears," he pointed for emphasis. "I hate this stupid hood, though. How could you tell?"  
"Your features...they're far to delicate for a human. Your nose, your fairly narrow eyes...the fact that you were using faerie fire to read by..."  
"How could you tell it was-"  
Shadow then lifted his finger. It was covered in a greenish blaze. "I know. I'm quite wordly, if I do say so myself." He then smiled. "You aren't the only elf here. And I'm not talking about myself. She's in that tent over there, the orange one. We leave for Indalia in the morning. This will probably be the only time in the next two days you'll get to introduce yourself. Maybe, she'll like you, unlike myself..." he said, trailing off. "An elven racist... God has a sense of humor. Ironies."  
Royal then gave him a friendly pat on the back. He then walked over to the tent...  
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Two days later, Royal was on the field, his newfound friend, Reyis, reloading her crossbow. She was probably to the opposite extremes as Royal. He had a two handed long bow, she had a crossbow. He had a two-handed Helix sword. She had a one-handed Knight's Sword. He had a small dagger made for quick strikes. She had a bowie knife for quickly rendering body parts uselsess, such as the heart, brain, and stomach.  
Royal slashed through 2 enemies. Reyis slashed through 4. Shadow was busy charging a powerful spell. Royal slashed through 8. She slashed through 16. Shadow, done with the spell, killed the remaining 64 with an AOE fire spell that would make Ifrit green with envy. He then gave a grin and peace sign. Royal smirked back, and Reyis rolled her eyes. They then marched on to more battles, more enemies, and more rolling of heads and/or eyes.  
They arrived at Indalia with time to spare. This would be the start of the finish. The beginning of the end. They decided to explore about town. Royal talked to Shadow about Reyis, and Shadow pretended to care.  
"She's great...she's really nice, and she's so kind to everyone. Sometimes, I think she's the best thing that ever happened to me..."  
'Go blow it out your ass,' he thought. "That's...great. Go find Ms. Riglet and tell her how you feel," he said, a light mocking tone coming from his mouth.  
"Miss RIGLET? What on Earth are you-"  
He never finished the sentence. A rock hit him in the back of the head. Instead of screaming in mortal terror, he was knocked the **** out. Shadow passed out too, but only because he didn't want to be blamed for this. Plus, he was waiting for the kid to snap anyhow. Hanta stood over the two, grinning like an idiot.  
"What a shame. Maybe if you'd led an honest life, things wouldn't have turned out this-"  
Shadow pulled him down, and proceeded to elbow his chest, cracking several ribs in the process.  
"H to the mother******' Izzo, biatch," he said, then he was about to blow him up, when Hanta gave an evil grin.  
"You kill me, I kill Reyis. And your friend wouldn't appreciate that, would he? I'll see you at Zeaklus, teacher," he said nonchantly, kicking Shadow's hand away.  
"I think you had this planned from the beginning. But what you don't know WILL hurt you, probably kill you as well."  
"What are you talking about?"  
"Fear is lost when hope is lost. With no hope, all that floods within you is rage. Once that rage peaks, it becomes power. One simply channels the rage to where he or she sees fit. I know what you are going to do. It will not work. You will die. And you will quite actually feel his blade sinking in to you. You will feel the life drain from your body. And you will feel his karmic force destroy your presence from this Earth," he finished, smirking. He then picked up Royal's prone form and headed to Zeaklus.  
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"Royal, I'm going to be very honest: I don't give a damn what happens to Reyis. I will help you save her, but I will not put my life on the line. She- Well, don't get your hopes up," Shadow said, not wanting to reveal his vision. Royal was going to flip out anyways. Plus, he didn't want to mess with fate here. She was to die (YAHOOI!) and Royal was going to go nuts (SHHWEET!). This was going to be the last time I saw him for 3 years...  
  
  
~§Fin§~  
  
  
  



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